How to Grow Fast and Convert on LinkedIn in 2026, with Lara Acosta

Summary

Slay The Gatekeeper — Episode Summary

Episode: How to Grow Fast and Convert on LinkedIn in 2026 (with Lara Acosta)
Host: Courtney Johnson
Guest: Lara Acosta
Date: November 18, 2025

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Main Theme / Purpose

Courtney Johnson sits down with Lara Acosta—widely dubbed the "queen of LinkedIn"—to break down the evolving landscape of LinkedIn growth and conversion strategies as we approach 2026. With actionable “cheat codes,” they demystify LinkedIn marketing, personal branding, business discipline, and the right mindset for rapid, sustainable growth. The conversation is lively, honest, and packed with practical tips—perfect for creators, founders, freelancers, and anyone looking to leverage LinkedIn to build both business and brand.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Why LinkedIn is Still a Goldmine

• Low Competition, High Opportunity:
  • Only 1% of LinkedIn’s billion users post weekly, so even basic consistent activity puts you in the top tier for visibility.
  • “If you post one time a week, you’re already in the top 1%. That’s insane.” — Lara (00:24, 10:19)
• Organic Reach Advantage:
  • LinkedIn’s reach algorithm still surfaces content to more of your audience than other major platforms.
• Best for Personal Brand and B2B:
  • Decision-makers live on LinkedIn, amplifying the value of well-crafted content.

2. What Content Works on LinkedIn Now (Heading into 2026)

• Education & Storytelling are King:
  • Most rapid growth comes from personal storytelling or strong educational content.
  • “There’s so many ‘here’s how to’s’. There’s only one ‘here’s how I.’ And that’s only from you.” — Lara (05:45)
• Mix of Photos and Text Outperforms:
  • Photos + text = best results; text-only posts perform worst. (02:56)
  • Infographics, carousels, and even Twitter screenshot memes work well.
  • “It can be a Twitter screenshot, it can be an infographic, it could be a carousel that doesn’t have anything to do with you.” — Lara (03:18)
• Keep Visuals Simple and Broad:
  • Overcomplicated visuals flop; broad, memorable posts (a la Sahil Bloom) work, but you must earn authority with value first.
• Be Relatable:
  • People want to buy from/learn from those who are 2 steps ahead, not 10.
  • “They want to follow the person that’s two steps ahead rather than ten.” — Lara (14:27)

3. Building an Authentic Lead Funnel

• 100% Inbound Growth:
  • Lara hasn’t needed cold outreach—her funnel is LinkedIn content → newsletter (email) → sales.
  • “70% of my revenue is directly from email.” — Lara (07:17)
• Lead Magnets over Direct Pitches:
  • Gating content by asking people to comment a word is now ineffective.
  • “No one cares about you until you make them care.” — Lara (28:35)
• Nurture & Convert in Email:
  • Build trust over time; the offer comes via email, not upfront (08:17).

4. Rapid Audience Growth: The Playbook

• Consistency Over Time:
  • Educational content 2-3x week + 1 story post/week + add prospects daily = rapid audience and client growth.
  • “I guarantee… if someone sticks to that framework, I’ve seen it happen. They’ve gone from low 10k/month to 100k/month.” — Lara (13:35)
• Most People Won’t Do It:
  • The top 1% is just those who actually post for 6 months straight.

5. Discipline over Shiny Objects

• Avoid Big, Flashy Ideas:
  • Stop copying giant brands (like Duolingo) if you don’t have their resources.
  • “Big ideas are going to be the end of you… you just need to focus on the one thing that’s going to keep you going.” — Lara (16:32)
• Double Down on What Works:
  • Reinvest in your strengths until you earn the right to diversify.

6. Momentum Trumps Readiness

• Start Before You’re Ready:
  • Don’t wait for a logo, website, or LLC: “You just need to get your first client and then see what happens. Just throw shit at a wall and something will stick.”—Lara (21:53)
• Iterate in Public:
  • Building products “live” with your first cohort creates impactful, lasting results.

7. Repetition Is More Important Than Reinvention

• Stick to Your Message to Be Memorable:
  • “You need to repeat yourself in order to be memorable. Otherwise people will then associate you with something else.” — Lara (26:02)
• Niche First, Then Broaden:
  • You don’t get to be "the niche" or “esoteric and cool” until you’re first known for one thing.
  • “You cannot become the niche until you nail one niche fast.” — Lara (26:48)

8. Building the Tools You Need (Cleo’s Origin Story)

• “Build the tool you wish you had.”
  • Cleo began as a content swipe tool, evolved into an AI content partner for LinkedIn, scaling to tens of thousands of users organically on LinkedIn alone.
  • “Cleo is a tool built by two viral creators… built seven-figure businesses off LinkedIn… It’s a big distinguisher.” — Lara (34:40)
• Product-Market Fit from Experience:
  • Built by creators, for creators; outpaced generic AI writing tools.

9. Handling Trolls & Being Memed

• Trolls Are Tools (or Avoid Them):
  • “Trolls are tools. Or just don’t read it.” — Courtney (38:13)
  • Embracing (or at least surviving) meme page criticism is a badge of honor (sometimes).

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• "If you're listening to this podcast and you're not on LinkedIn, what the fuck are we doing?"
  — Courtney (00:00, 16:01)
• "There’s so many ‘here’s how to’s’. There’s only one ‘here’s how I.’ And that’s only from you."
  — Lara (05:45)
• "No one cares about you until you make them care."
  — Lara (28:35)
• "You cannot become the niche until you nail one niche fast."
  — Lara (26:48)
• “Just throw shit at a wall and then something will stick. And that’s how you rapidly gain momentum.”
  — Lara (21:53)
• "Trolls are tools."
  — Courtney (38:13)
• On being copied:
  “Still like an artist. I think that’s the best ethical framework for doing it… It’s the game that we’re playing.” — Courtney & Lara (30:11)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• State of LinkedIn, creator opportunity – 00:24, 10:19
• Content types that win – 02:24, 03:18
• Lead generation & inbound funnel – 06:47, 07:17, 08:17
• Why being relatable matters – 14:27
• Playbook for audience growth – 13:35
• Shiny object syndrome & avoiding big brand advice – 16:32
• Building momentum without waiting to be “ready” – 21:53
• Niche first, personal brand strategy – 26:02, 26:48
• Origin of Cleo & product-market fit – 31:51, 34:40
• On trolls & meme pages – 37:22, 38:13

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Books & Resources Mentioned

• Steal Like An Artist by Austin Kleon — Source of Cleo’s name and ethical approach to “stealing like an artist.” (10:10, 31:23)
• The One Thing — On finding focus and avoiding “big idea” distraction. (18:45)
• The Four Agreements — Major influence on Lara’s business/value mindset. (19:28)
• Reality Transurfing — Advanced mindset/manifestation, recommended by the hosts. (20:42)

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Closing Thoughts

This episode is an energetic masterclass on using LinkedIn to slay the “gatekeepers” of opportunity—making business growth, personal branding, and content creation radically approachable and effective. Lara Acosta and Courtney Johnson dish out unfiltered, actionable advice, emphasizing discipline, authenticity, and creative agility. Their infectious humor and honesty make this a must-listen for anyone serious about winning on LinkedIn in 2026.

Where to Find Lara:

• LinkedIn (primary) – Lara Acosta
• YouTube, Instagram – @LaraAcosta

Cleo AI Tool:

• Find via LinkedIn or show notes
• “Slay all day with Cleo!”

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Tone

The conversation is raw, candid, and irreverent—full of straight talk (“what the fuck are we doing?”), tough love, and practical wisdom aimed at empowering creators, founders, and entrepreneurs.

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For New Listeners

Whether you’re a LinkedIn veteran or just getting started, this episode is loaded with up-to-date strategies and mindsets that can fundamentally change your approach—and results—on the world’s #1 professional platform.

Transcript

[A]

If you're listening to this podcast and you're not on LinkedIn, what the are we doing?

[B]

Okay, Comment this world and I send you like no one cares. I've never seen a person comment a word and then buy from that. It doesn't happen anymore.

[A]

There's a book called Steal like an Artist on how to ethically steal. You stole his name of the book about stealing to make your app name.

[B]

Don't hate.

[A]

That's genius. There's just so few people creating on LinkedIn. It's just like a wide open space.

[B]

One billion users, only 1% are posting weekly. If you post 1%, like one time a week, you're already in the top 1%. That's insane. Same metrics, especially for social media right now. You create educational content three times a week. You add 20 people a day. One of them is going to buy from you. The single thing that you can do well, double down on that, then double down again, reinvest, and then keep that going until you have the assets to invest in that big campaign. Otherwise, you'll never get to where you want to be. You need to repeat yourself in order to be memorable. Otherwise people will then associate you with something else. No one cares about you until you make them care.

[A]

Loves to steal our content. Yes. Which is honestly an honor. Though LinkedIn is the least amount of trolls. Like, there's so many more trolls on other platforms. But you got to embrace the trolls. They're amazing. Trolls are tools. Welcome to Slay the Gatekeeper. I'm your host, Courtney Johnson, and I am here to ungate Keep the gatekept. Thank you so much for being here. Enjoy. Hello.

[B]

Hi.

[A]

Hi, Laura. I have the queen of LinkedIn here.

[B]

You are the queen of LinkedIn.

[A]

You're literally the queen of LinkedIn.

[B]

No, you, like, blow up every time you talk about LinkedIn on tick tock.

[A]

That's true. It's funny because when I talk about LinkedIn outside of LinkedIn performs better than online. Yeah.

[B]

Do you get LinkedIn sent. Send you a gift as well? Link. They're not sending me any gifts.

[A]

They sent me, like, a really good gift last year.

[B]

Did they send you, like, a microphone and no camera?

[A]

They sent me AirPods and like a Apple home speaker and like a backpack and stuff.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

You didn't get that? Okay. I think it'll. I think it's also probably. They send better things to the Americans.

[B]

They. They love the Americans and just hate us.

[A]

You guys get gypped when it comes to brand gifting.

[B]

Yeah, we don't get any.

[A]

I know it's sad and people are like, oh, sorry, we don't ship out of the US for whatever.

[B]

It's fine.

[A]

And we get a lot.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Okay. You're literally the queen of LinkedIn. Let's start with what works on LinkedIn right now.

[B]

I think that everybody is consistently looking for a best performing type of template or content. But personally, what I found after we analyze 3,000 posts every single month is either you're a good education, you do a lot of educational content, or storytelling. But the majority of people will always see rapid success storytelling because it's the easiest for a person to do, especially if you have some sort of scale doing content already. Yeah.

[A]

But yeah, I for what's working for me right now is like photos.

[B]

Yeah. So photo and text is the highest performing content angle and the lowest performing content angle is always just text.

[A]

Yeah. Which is. I really miss the days where text was the top performing. It's like 2017 or something a while ago. Yeah, long time ago. Okay, so photos plus text is performing really well on LinkedIn right now.

[B]

But it can be any type of photo. Like it can be an infographic as well. Most people, especially the introverted crowd, get very scared when you say photo because they think that you have to take a photo of yourself all the time and it turns into Instagram for them. But it doesn't have to be a photo of you at all. It can be a Twitter screenshot, it can be an infographic, it could be a carousel that doesn't have anything to do with you.

[A]

The Twitter screenshots are working really well for me right now.

[B]

Yeah, they work very well for me. And they're so easy to do. Yeah. Doesn't take you anything. Just Canva.

[A]

Yeah, they're fake. This is fake tweets. So if you go on Canva and you just type in tweet, it'll come up with like a. You can make a fake tweet and just write whatever you want and that's performing really well.

[B]

But it has to be simple enough for people to want to like it. Because what happens sometimes is that people will take this advice and then they'll add had five lines of over complicated stuff and that doesn't work. We literally had a call with one of our users that was trying to understand why his Twitter screenshots weren't working. And the reason for that isn't that the angle didn't work or the algorithm hated him. It was simply the content wasn't good enough. And I think people don't understand that you have to get good at broad content because that's what gets the most people interested and engaged. And then the content that is the text can be quite specific. Yeah. Is it?

[A]

Yeah. Like Sahil Bloom style.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

He just shares like the most. It'll be like, it's the most basic ass broad piece of content ever. It'll be like, do better. Yeah. It'll be like, be kind today.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And then it'll blow up. And I'm like, the.

[B]

But the thing that people misunderstand about people like him and other top creators is they also have massive authority and bias in the industry. So people will see his name and that is a post. Whereas a normal person that steals that format, they need to gain that validation elsewhere and usually comes from education rather than just a just do it. So the format works. You just have to understand how to leverage it for your account.

[A]

I find that with education. I'm curious if you think this too. But what works for me is like adding some sort of personal anecdote to it. So instead of like, here's how to make a website. It's like, I've built 10,000 websites and this really traumatic thing happened to me. And because of that, here are five tips to build your website.

[B]

Yeah. Always with is a storytelling.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Because people are used. Especially now with the rise of AI. There's so many here's how tos. There's only one. Here's how I. And that's only from you. So people resonate with that because no one can refute that you've done it. Instead of them double checking whether that's actually correct. Because it's your way. No one can take that away from you.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And I think that's the easiest way for our beginner to start posting on LinkedIn or any other platform. If you are scared to start talking about things because people either start curating content and they'll just steal all the frameworks and they're not theirs. And people know that they're not theirs and then either they get scared or they think that they're not going to be legit. But if you say, hey, here's how I grew my LinkedIn to 5,000 followers in 10 days. That's your unique angle. It doesn't matter if the framework was right or the template was right or if you have an agency. It's just you that you have the. You have the receipts. Now show it. And then you build your audience like that. That's exactly what I did. And then from There I just created my own frameworks. But you have to start with the story first.

[A]

Always. What is your lead funnel look like on LinkedIn? Like how are you guys are going through the DMs like through your profile through like a keyword. Like how are they buying from you?

[B]

So I've been quite privileged that my businesses have only run 100% inbound. I've never sent a cold outreach message ever. Never had to really. Exactly. Personal brand is so important.

[A]

Yeah. I mean I promote stuff but I've never had to like send. Yes. And like people do these like cold outreach funnels. Like people are in my DMs every day.

[B]

Yeah. So if I had many chat on LinkedIn I would 100% rinse up. But we don't have the automations. We're never going to have automations. But. But what I do is like the funnel is LinkedIn content to email newsletter that prints 70% of my revenue for two of the businesses is directly from email. The 30% is from content. So email is quite powerful. So finding a way to get mass distribution towards content. So viral post as much as I can to get top of funnel, then lead them to newsletter through lead magnets and then convert them on the back end because that protects your personal brand. One of the main fears that I see people have with personal brand is that they don't want to seem too selfie. And then the hack is that you remain authentic and valuable through content and then through the lead magnets you're still giving insane amounts of value because the lead magnets can be quite dense. And then there is where the magic happens in the conversion because you've already gotten their attention and then all you have to do is convert it once a week.

[A]

So you're saying instead of leading them to your offer, lead them to a lead magnet that then. Then going to get their email and you're selling in the email.

[B]

Yeah. Because right now the market has sophisticated so much that people can tell the even the, the more black hat ways of getting leads of like hey come in this world and I send you like no one cares. Like I've never seen a person comment a word and then buy from that. It doesn't happen anymore. So you have to sort of go into a nurturing type of funnel where it's like get my lead like you like my broad post about 10 mindset shifts that change your life or 10 top, top 10 TED talks and then from there they like you, they trust you through email you're building that rapport with them every single week through newsletter and then eventually when you're launching, they'll buy from you 100%. That's the easiest funnel and that's what I've done this entire time.

[A]

Yeah, that's so smart. Yeah. Who do you, who do you think should be on LinkedIn?

[B]

Everyone.

[A]

Literally everyone, I think.

[B]

No, no, I think any person that has a business that they are willing to create content for themselves as a personal brand. Because I've had this a lot. Business owners, they either need to be the face of the brand or they need to choose someone that's an employee to be the face of that brand to drive the revenue to the, to drive the traffic to the brand. Because some business owners, they say they want a personal brand, but they just want leads. Yeah, there's easier, easier ways to get leads than building a personal brand because that's a long term commitment. You can either do ads, SEO, whatever, but personal branding is a long term thing and you can't just hack it in six months. It's a, it's a long term play.

[A]

Yeah, I feel like it's the easiest. Maybe it's maybe just because I'm personally connected to it, but especially on LinkedIn, like if a client comes to me and they're like, I want to, oh, I don't know, I want to get a graphic design client in the next two weeks. I'm like, okay, I'll get it. Yeah, optimize your LinkedIn profile, start posting and like add your prospects. Like that's the formula.

[B]

Yeah, because it's so like 1 billion users, only 1% are posting weekly. If you post 1%, like one time a week, you're already in the top 1%. That's insane metrics, especially for social media right now. It's a goldmine of opportunity. And the easiest way to get leads, you create educational content three times a week. You add 20 people a day. One of them is going to buy from you because there's, you've already gained trust through content. People look you up 100%. And so if you already have some decent content, some decent social proof and a good offer, you've already won the client.

[A]

Yeah. And it's just less crowded. Like those 20 people are going to see your content. There's so much, those 20 people are so much more valuable that you've added that day. Let's say 10 of them actually accept you. Like, they're actually going to see your content. Where people might follow you on other platforms and they don't see your content as much. Yeah.

[B]

And the interest is higher.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And the decision makers are always there. Yeah.

[A]

There's just so few people creating on LinkedIn. It's just like a wide open space.

[B]

To me and to us it just feels like everybody knows about it, but anytime we talk about it, no one, no one knows about LinkedIn.

[A]

Yeah, I think it's, it's so interesting because I've been like saying this shit since like 2017 and people are like, what? And people are just now being like.

[B]

Oh, you're an og?

[A]

Yeah. Well, I used to work at this agent, like personal brand agency that required us if we wanted to work there, we had to post on LinkedIn every day, which is. Was really annoying at the time. But then I left the job and I'm like, oh, I have a LinkedIn audience.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

Like, I guess I get a best.

[B]

Thing from that job. I guess.

[A]

Yeah, it was the best thing from that job. And I'm like, okay, like, personal brand is so, so vital and anybody can do it. Anybody can do it. Like it doesn't matter.

[B]

But they have to want to.

[A]

Yeah, you have to want to for sure. What would you tell people that are afraid?

[B]

It depends. Like, do you want to make money as fast as possible? Then you have to commit to it for a bit and then you're gonna start seeing the benefits and you will be able to then gain the max returns and then either hire someone to do it for you, get an amazing writing tool to do it for you, or like Cleo. Like Cleo. Or just bite the bullet.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

I think most people can't build a parcel brand. I chose LinkedIn personally because I was quite introverted at the time. I didn't want to build on Instagram because I didn't want to take photos of myself all the time. I wanted to be known for my expertise rather than what I look like. I couldn't be bothered to edit reels even I. Right now we're trying to do day in our lives. Building in public, it's too much. And so if you're introverted, if you don't want to take photos of yourself, and if you know how to write, or at least know how to write decently, LinkedIn is the opportunity that you're probably looking for when it comes to organic reach. Because as well, like again, back to the 1 billion users, only 1% posting. If you do that three times a week, educational content twice a week, one story post every single week, you'll be able to gain a decent following within six months. I can guarantee that if someone sticks to that framework, I've seen it happen. They've gone their business from, you know, low 10k a month to like 20, 50, 100k a month just by simply doing that and having one solid offer. It cannot be easier than that.

[A]

Yeah, it's, it's definitely simpler than other platforms.

[B]

Instagram for sure.

[A]

You're. You're also saying, like, most people just aren't gonna stick out the six months. Like, that's so true. Most people just aren't. They're not gonna, they're not gonna do it for that long. And I think that's. It's like less than 1% of people post. It's not like your post. I mean, of course it's. They should be good and you're gonna optimize them as you go along. You're gonna look at your metrics and whatever. But most people just aren't even gonna post at all. Like, not even matter if the posts are good. Like, if you are posting consistently for six months, not only are in the top 1%, you're in the top, like, fraction of a percent. And like, people are looking for you, they're looking for your expertise. Like, that just makes it easy for them to find you.

[B]

And something that I've come to realize often is that people are looking for people that they can relate to. They. There, there's a problem I'm seeing amongst the biggest creators, including myself, that you're not relatable anymore to them. And so they want to follow the person that's two steps ahead rather than 10. So people like, let's say someone like Justin Welsh, he's got, he seems so far away from where a lot of people are at that they rather buy coaching or buy someone else's course that has 20,000 followers, 30,000 followers, because it seems more attainable. And a lot of clients will come to me and ask me like, oh, but like, I'm not, I'm not that big. I'm not like Alistair Musi. I'm not like Leela Horos Musli or like Cody Sanchez. You don't have to be because, like, someone is right there waiting for you to post content because they want to be where you are right now at the 10k mark, 20k mark of 5 employees, not the millions and millions and millions of dollars. So, yeah, I think that's it.

[A]

Yeah. Think of it like an infinite ladder. Like, there's always going to be people that know more and less than you, and you just teach the people Two steps below you on the ladder. That's really interesting about relatability because I definitely see that. I actually got this advice from a billionaire one time. He was like, courtney, take advice iteratively. He's like, stop taking advice from Steve Jobs. Like, go take advice from the person that's one step ahead of you. Steve Jobs is 20,000 steps ahead of you.

[B]

Well, yes. Too broad. Yeah. You cannot. You cannot relate to it because you don't have an entire corporation where it's like, yeah, just like, they often relax. It doesn't make sense to you. Yeah. Okay.

[A]

We've got some good, solid foundation. LinkedIn tips, everybody. If you're listening to this podcast, like, and you're not on LinkedIn, what. What the fuck are we doing? We've had like a five zillion episodes on LinkedIn and how it's so important. But I have some cheat codes from you around building your. Your business that I want to. Want to talk to you about. And one is Clio. Yeah, I use Clio. We love Clio. Okay. One is building with non negotiables and not trends. So your business was really built on this idea of non negotiables and discipline rather than getting kind of swayed in different directions. Tell me about that.

[B]

I hate big, big ideas. Like, it is my biggest pet peeve. I come to realize it more and more as I come into who I am as an entrepreneur. I think if you are, if you're a freelancer, if you're a solopreneur, if you're an entrepreneur just starting big ideas are going to be the end of you. Because if you go back to the Sahil Bloom advice or any big person, Saheel is great. But if you're focusing on, oh, I just need to copy Duolingo's strategy and I'm going to just do a it. Your business has nothing. You don't have the 10, you know, staff that Duolingo have for marketing. You don't have the budget. And I see this overlapping conflict of interest and advice that it just seems so easy for these brands to go viral and do all of these things. And then either I see the freelancer just stop, because they're just in this overall procrastination station where they're just paralyzed. And I hate it because I was there, because I thought that this was the only way to do business. Copying what works. And the playbooks that work for big businesses. No. Focus on the one thing that's going to do well. Like, what is that? The single thing that you can do well, double down on that, then double down again, reinvest and then keep that going until you have the assets to invest in that big campaign. But I hate big ideas. Is just what's stopping most people from actually gaining success quite fast. Shiny object syndrome is so big in our space. Like even I fall into it every single day. But I have to stop myself because I'm like, this is not where we're going. And I think that's the importance of having a mentor, a good friend group around you, good people around you that consistently keep you in check of like, where are you actually going? Because with social media, we're consistently comparing ourselves to others and what they are doing. And so if you truly want to win and do it fast, you just need to focus on the one thing. What is that one thing that's going to keep you going? And don't stop until you get to have that really big benchmark. And then beyond that, just keep. Just keep going forwards. Otherwise you'll never get to where you want to be.

[A]

Yeah. If you're listening to this and you don't know your one thing, just go read the book. The One Thing.

[B]

Oh, you recommended that?

[A]

Yeah. It'll tell you your one thing. It's so good. It's so good. Who's your mentor?

[B]

His name is Richard Moore. He's an amazing guy. He found me when I was like nobody. I remember I had a call with him when I was back in Mexico. It was 4am in Mexico. It was like 12 in the UK. And then since then he just sort of like adopted me. A. I never paid him a penny and he just mentored me for free. I don't know what he saw me, but forever grateful.

[A]

That's amazing. Incredible. Is it? Has there been any books that have really helped your journey?

[B]

I think that personally, not business wise, but the Four Agreements was a book that radically changed how I saw business. So, like understanding myself a little bit better value, value wise. You have it there.

[A]

I have it here. Not only do I have it here. Wait, I. I've been waiting for the moment to brag about this. Oh, great. Okay. I have. Oh, wait, this is not the right copy. There's. I. No, this is the right copy. I got a letter from him and it says you've used the word to expand your vision. Like think it's basically saying thank you legit from him. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like this is. He sends us to everyone who posts about the four agreements. So post about the four agreements. I'll send you A book and stickers. He's a cool dude.

[B]

He's great.

[A]

I'm gonna frame it.

[B]

Yeah. I give this to, like, many of my friends because I think it really is such a short read. Yeah, it's great.

[A]

Yeah. It basically is like everything is fake. Nothing matters. Yeah.

[B]

Don't take it too.

[A]

Don't take anything personally. It's a great book. I love it.

[B]

I. I think about it often. Like, every single time I find myself in conflict, I'll just remember the agreements and it's just like, okay. I just keep. Keep going forward.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Yeah, that one probably is. I've read Reality Transurfing recently.

[A]

Reality Transurfing. So good. I actually had. If you guys go back to. There's a recent episode with a guy named Owen, and he has a translation of the original Reality Trans Surfing. It's really good. Anyway.

[B]

Massive.

[A]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's crazy. It's really good.

[B]

It's good.

[A]

That's like ultimate crazy manifestation.

[B]

Yeah. I couldn't. I couldn't hack the entire book, so I did chatgpt most of it. But, yeah, good.

[A]

Yeah. Okay. You should look at. Yeah, I'll send you the stuff. But Owen on YouTube, he. He has a lot of great videos just like, breaking down because it is dense.

[B]

It's very dense. I think you have to go back and read it many, many times.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Yeah, that's probably it.

[A]

That's. Those are the only two books you need, in my opinion. That's awesome. Okay. Momentum over readiness. The cheat code here is. Readiness is a mint myth. Like, readiness does not exist. And you basically said that you built your business without being ready.

[B]

Research. I feel, like, researched.

[A]

You feel well researched. Yeah.

[B]

Who's looking on my LinkedIn?

[A]

Alexandria is like. Is researching you.

[B]

So. What.

[A]

What.

[B]

What was the question?

[A]

Sorry. Yeah, the. It's. It's the cheat code that you're never going to be ready. So tell me about the cheat code.

[B]

Most of the time, people wait to be ready. Get the logo, get the LLC set up, get the accountants. It's just like, it's a consistent waste of time that you are putting yourself through. You don't actually have to do any of that. Like, my first business had no logo, no websites, no landing page. My first launch that I had for, like a cohort. I know you do them as well. Their website wasn't ready until day two. We literally had just a stripe link, and that's how we sold it. And when you do things like that, you rewire your brain into thinking. Actually, I don't need any of these things. I thought that I needed, I just needed to just do the thing because if you never start, you'll actually never learn what's actually wrong or right about your business model. A lot of people wait to, oh, but I need to read another course. Like read another book or get another course. And I need to get this certification and I need to get certified by this. But no, you don't need to do any of that. You just need to get your first client and then see what happens. Like just throw shit at a wall and then something will stick. And that's how you rapidly gain momentum. And the key to momentum though, is you just don't drop the ball. Like, if you drop the ball, if you keep it, if you stop it, you're going to lose the game that you're trying to play.

[A]

Yeah, my first cohort, I didn't even have the curriculum until day one. I did the, was doing the deck an hour before the cohort started because it was what forced me to do it.

[B]

But I think even that, I think cohorts is what taught me this. I don't know about you. Like my first cohorts, probably my, the one that felt the best because I built it with the, the people in it and it just felt so personal. And the clients that I had from that cohort are still my most, some of my most successful case studies till this day because they felt so hard and seen because we were building the curriculum life for them. And so it just goes to show, like, no matter how much you prepare for something, there is something to be said about doing something with someone and learning from them rather than pretending that you know everything, because you and I probably didn't in the first one. Even now I don't even know what's going on. But when you get feedback from people rapidly and iterate, you can actually deliver them to the best results quicker than you would have done. Preparing for six months, trying to understand the best hacks, etc. And trying to read their mind. Like their customers are going to be the people that tell you exactly what they need, not you. Because you're too, you're probably too in your head about what you know. And like there's things like we're very competent people in what we're doing and we forget about the people that don't have that much competence in what we do. And so we assume that they know what we know, but in reality they don't know. That's why they're coming to us. But Then we remove the basics because they're too basic for us. But the basics is where people usually thrive the most by being retraced of. Like, it's okay. You're in the right place. Yeah.

[A]

This is so, so smart. Yeah. I was actually on a coworking session with a friend and she's like launching a coaching offer and she was. I'm like, what are you working on? She's like, I'm working on my website. And I'm like, bitch, stop working. You don't need a website to launch your coaching. One hour coaching call. Like, just go DM people on Instagram. You just get bigger calendly. Exactly. Anyways, yeah, I. You want to make a course. I actually really recommend just running a cohort for like a really low ticket cohort. Testing it out once and then you productize it. And then productize it. Yeah, it's. Yeah, you don't need a website and the messaging and everything.

[B]

You can just build up the website on lovable or something quickly and that's it.

[A]

Or card or literally notion with a stripe Link.

[B]

Or even LinkedIn is your website. Like LinkedIn is your landing page. That is what people call it. Like the 247 sales person that never sleeps. Like, LinkedIn is basically optimized to become someone's website without you even needing to. Because you have a feature section you can put your link to that. You just need a nice thumbnail and people will buy it so easy. Yeah, yeah.

[A]

You don't need to over complicate things. Ooh, this is a great cheat code. Repetition is more important than reinvention. Why is this a. Why is this a cheat code?

[B]

There is a psychological theory that you need to repeat yourself in order to be memorable. Otherwise people will then associate you with something else. There is this thing with. I don't know, I love Danko. I hate the idea of being the niche because I think why I love that idea.

[A]

No, you are the niche.

[B]

No, you're not. What do you mean, no, you're not?

[A]

You literally are your own niche. Why don't you like it?

[B]

So what am I known for? LinkedIn.

[A]

Yeah, LinkedIn. But more than LinkedIn.

[B]

But it's if it was just.

[A]

If it was just LinkedIn, you'd be boring. It's LinkedIn and it's your personality and it's your perspective and your take and it's like all these mindset stuff you talk about. It's business growth. You talk. It's like all of that. If it was just like one LinkedIn tip of the day. No one would follow you.

[B]

But the only reason why I was able to then become the niche it was because I was a niche first. And I think that nuance is extremely important for beginners because they try to be so esoteric and mythical and cool. And I have so many interests and I like golf, but I also do a business and I have kids and my favorite food is pizza. No one's gonna remember you for everything because you're trying to be known for everything. And so that is the main problem and my issue with the creator economy and any single mindset guru that reinforces this idea. You cannot become the niche until you nail one niche fast. Because otherwise, what are you known for? Nothing. You need to be useful to the, to the community or your followers to then kind of like gain their respect and authority to then be people wanting people gaining an interest in your life because you help them with one thing. They're like, oh, what does she do in her spare time? Or I have a house that has a tram. That's cool. But I, I don't think that the interesting would have, the interest would have come that quickly if it was the other way around. Unless you made your entire thing about house which, that you should do that. But that's really cool.

[A]

It's interesting because I, I see both, like, I definitely, I think I'm known for like LinkedIn probably over other things. But I do have people that are like, oh, I followed you because you're weird tram. And now I bought your LinkedIn course. And like that's just how they discovered me. But usually they, they think of me as LinkedIn. But I like, I like what you're saying of like master something first. Especially because people aren't going to care about you. And I think that's like your message. Like no one cares that your favorite food is pizza or about your kids because you've given them no value first.

[B]

No one, no one cares about you until you make them care.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And that you need to give them a use yourself. I use. You need to be useful.

[A]

Yeah. Like give them the value first and then talk. Yeah. I mean like don't talk about yourself at first. Yes.

[B]

And also if you want to make money as well, like you need to educate someone on something. Otherwise if you try to become a lifestyle creator, there's really not a lot of money there. Unless you're trying to be a full time influencer, which is what most business owners don't want to be. So niche down. Then focus on the one thing Then you can start niching up. That's what I did. And I find this annoying because a lot of people will see my. My LinkedIn now, and they'll try and copy exactly what I do. And I'll be talking about, I don't know, me being in Austin right Now, and then LinkedIn stuff and then productivity stuff, and they'll take that verbatim. But the only reason why the content does well now, ask for everything in my storytelling, etc. Is because I was able to solidify that. And so I don't want people to get the wrong impression that they can be known for many, many things at the same time. When you just thought you need to be good at one.

[A]

How do you feel about people copying your shit?

[B]

How is it?

[A]

It happens a lot.

[B]

It's the name of the game. Like, I love it. I love it. We, yeah, sure, do it. I copied someone once.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Like, I. I cannot. It's the game that we're playing. Like, at the start, I was doing the exact same thing. So it feels weird. It. It's. It's kind of interesting, but it's part of the industry. Like, still like an artist.

[A]

Still like an artist. Yeah. I mean, I think that's the best ethical framework for doing it because I've had shit ripped, like, by major creators that's like, that's not. That's not cool. Neil Patel. Neil Patel loves to steal our content.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Which is honestly an honor, though.

[B]

It was cool when he did it for you.

[A]

It was cool. I. It's happened multiple times now. But what I liked about it is I really milked it. I was like, oh, my God, I'm so upset with Neil Patel. And like, really? That video is getting like, a million views. Like, okay, I'm not that upset. Like, oh, no. And it really gives you a. Like, Neil, like, my content's so good that he's gonna steal it.

[B]

Do you know he knows?

[A]

No. I think he has people that just find the content, write the scripts for him, and he does it.

[B]

I don't think he knows.

[A]

Yeah. And it was like an AI video of him. I don't think it was actually him.

[B]

Oh, yeah.

[A]

But it was on his page.

[B]

So your video did well.

[A]

Yeah, the video, when critiquing him, did well. So it really was a win.

[B]

Win.

[A]

I dramatized it a little bit.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

So good. Okay, next cheat code. Build the tools that you wish you had. I love this because you're building Cleo.

[B]

Cleo, my co founder, is right there smiling.

[A]

Worth stealing them In Austin.

[B]

Yeah. So Cleo, after Austin Cleon, Steal like an Artist. We.

[A]

You named it after Austin Cleon.

[B]

Oh, he did, yeah. He, he was a mastermind behind the name.

[A]

I just want to break this down for the audience. So there's a book called Steal like an Artist on how to ethically steal steal, and the author's name is Austin Kleon. He actually lives here in Austin. So you stole his name of the book about stealing to make your app name.

[B]

Don't hate.

[A]

That's genius. That's genius. You could probably interview him and tell him this.

[B]

We should. He probably really liked that.

[A]

Yeah, you guys should meet him while you're here.

[B]

Good, good artists copy. Great artists steal genius. Yeah. So Cleo started as a Chrome extension that swiped a lot of content from viral creators like ourselves. And Jake ended up building the tool that he wished he had when he started. Because at the start three years ago, we were literally screenshotting things. And then he found an easier way to store them. The tool scaled to 70,000 users organically on LinkedIn only. So that's another case study for using LinkedIn to scale your own business. And then it evolved into a content creation partner with AI. And how many users we have now? 500. We launched two weeks ago. We scaled to 30K. Mr. In four days.

[A]

Congrats.

[B]

LinkedIn organic.

[A]

Yeah. For the listeners. There was a huge LinkedIn crackdown on third party tools. So a lot of the Chrome extensions and anything basically like scraping data from LinkedIn got in big, big trouble and all shut down. So a ton of businesses had to pivot.

[B]

Yeah, yeah. Like us. Yeah. But now we're better than ever and we're winning.

[A]

How, how, how are you in that chaos? Like that must have been difficult to be like, okay, our entire business is in one day.

[B]

Oh, it wasn't me dealing with it, it was him. So, so you just, I was just chilling in the back, like, when are you ready? Yeah, he, he, he had that and I was just ready for when we were going into Pivot. But then it ended up being the best thing that we could have done for the business because actually a lot more usable. There's like many more use cases. We already have so many glowing testimonials. We were on a call earlier with someone. He already has like two viral posts. Using Clio alone to write his content. With AI like that, ideally for a business owner, is going to save them time, money on a ghostwriter time. Kind of like doing the research that they need to, they don't need to learn the frameworks, they don't need to learn the strategies, they don't need to learn anything. They just need to post the content iterate like, kind of like adjust it to like 100% authenticity level and tone of voice. But after that, that's LinkedIn content almost on automatic. Done for you actually. Well, because the problem with most AI content tools, even ChatGPT, that it's free. ChatGPT doesn't understand LinkedIn as well as we do. Link Clio is a tool built by two vowel creators. I have 280,000 followers, Jake has 170, 180k on LinkedIn. We are the only creators that have built a tool that have actually gone viral multiple times and have built seven figure businesses off the back of LinkedIn. So I think that is a big, big, big distinguisher between most AI tools, Clio and also understanding how the LinkedIn algorithm and what they want works at all times.

[A]

Yeah, random side note, cheat code is if you're creating LinkedIn content on ChatGPT, never say LinkedIn content.

[B]

The Rocket emoji, it's going to be. Yeah, yeah, never.

[A]

The rocket emoji is a no, no. Okay, so what inputs are you putting into? Like what as a user? What am I putting into Clio?

[B]

You can literally just go, hey, can you write me a post about me being on a podcast with Lara Costa? And then you can, you can go on Clio, we have a knowledge base, we have templates and we have tone of voice where you can choose. Okay. If you like how I write, my writing style is write that for you to choose. Hey, I like how Lara writes. Can you write my post about this or write your path of post. You can just edit it and then it's like interactive so you can literally select lines to change instead of it changing the entire post. Like chatgpt word. And so that is incredibly valuable. You can also upload your own documents into it so you don't have to start from scratch every single time. Which is also something that most AI writing tools do. You have to start from scratch every single time. But Clio gets smarter. The more inputs you give her, the more you talk to her, the more it knows you. And then over time it'll create better posts the fastest.

[A]

Yeah, okay, that's really, really cool.

[B]

I know, I'm go, Cleo, Cleo. So buy it now.

[A]

I'm signing up after this. Yeah, let's get like a trial, like a week trial or something for my level up on LinkedIn.

[B]

Yeah, we can, we can do that. Yeah.

[A]

And I'll get you all my. I think they'd be really excited about.

[B]

Yeah. We love Cleo. Like, we. We built it with a lot of love. Jake spent so much time working on it and now.

[A]

Now Clio is going to be an Austin company.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Moving from Dubai to Austin.

[B]

Oh, yeah. Cleo slay. Because we couldn't get Clio LLC as Clio slay.

[A]

Okay, so we slay with Cleo.

[B]

Slay all day with Cleo.

[A]

I love it. Okay. I'm literally signing up because I'm going to start stealing like an artist and I'm going to be like, make my post like Laura Costa.

[B]

We also have a swipe file you can steal like an artist from. Not just LinkedIn post, but everywhere, Reddit posts, etc. Jake wrote a. How many likes does he have? 2k. 1.8 400k impressions. He wrote that live on a loom for people. He went to Clio, selected a screenshot, wrote it entirely with Clio. Win Viral charge. Good. Never.

[A]

Sorry. That's. Yeah. And that's so hard on LinkedIn.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Virality is just like different.

[B]

Yeah. Other platforms, but, like, if he can do it with a boring niche, like, what was the place about SEO? SEO goes viral on LinkedIn. Like, you can go viral LinkedIn, like 100%. It was like a graph. Graph of like the stock. A stock 400,000 impression or whatever.

[A]

Wow.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Okay, I have one more question for you. Have you ever been on LinkedIn lunatics or best of LinkedIn? But by the way, if you're listening, you don't know. These are both meme pages to make fun of LinkedIn creators. I've been on LinkedIn lunatics and best of LinkedIn multiple times. It's actually. I'm proud every time I'm on it. They're laughing over there. So I'm sure you've been on it.

[B]

Did I. I was. I've been featured twice.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

I've done everything in my power ever since to never be featured ever again.

[A]

Why? It's so good to be featured.

[B]

I got violated. It was. It was violent.

[A]

Oh, people were being mean.

[B]

They were like attacking my looks. It wasn't just my content, it was my looks. Like, they were telling me that I. Plastic surgery.

[A]

It was.

[B]

I was celebrating, like three years of sobriety.

[A]

They're fans.

[B]

I'm not into the hate.

[A]

Okay. LinkedIn is the least amount of trolls. Like, there's so many more trolls on other platforms. But you gotta embrace the trolls. They're amazing trolls. Are tools or just don't read it. Like, don't read LinkedIn. Lunatic.

[B]

I will read every single comment. I'm so sorry. I'm so snoopy. But really, I just have to know what's going on. And I didn't like what was going on on Reddit. I. I just stay away from it. I don't think I've been featured. I check maybe every three months. I've been like, please, hopefully this doesn't end up. But. Yeah, no, no, I hated it.

[A]

Really. I've had. Yeah, I've had some students be like, I. I'm really afraid of being featured. I'm like, no, that's. That's great.

[B]

No, no, I am afraid.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

Be afraid. They're mean, though. Okay.

[A]

How can people find you? We already know where to find Cleo. We'll put in the show notes.

[B]

But how can you. You can find me on Edaniwa, YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIn. Lara Acosta. Check it out. Growing on YouTube as well right now. Trying to scale that.

[A]

Yeah, beautiful. Okay, and everyone go follow Laura on LinkedIn, because you are the queen of LinkedIn.

[B]

Thank you.

[A]

Amazing. Thank you for coming. Thank you for coming all the way from London to Austin to talk to.

[B]

Me because of the Cleo gang and First Lady. Yes.

[A]

Wink.